Staying focused on our foundational miraculous nature is actually very hard work in our modern culture of deconstruction. We are socialized to see what is wrong, missing, off, to tear down the ideas of others and uplift our own. To a certain degree, our entire future may depend on learning to listen… –Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown

I finally received my copy of Emergent Strategy (a birthday gift from my beloved) and I’m already underlining basically every word. I have been following adrienne maree brown‘s work for some time now, ever since I had the privilege of meeting her more than ten years ago at a week-long Direct Action training organized by the Ruckus Society. She is a powerhouse of information and inspiration, of sacred strategy and irreverent insurgence. Her book is everything right now. Hop on over to a local bookstore and get yourself a copy.

Some of you might know adrienne’s work without realizing it. For example, an excerpt of her writings went sort of viral last year in the midst of last summer’s uprisings which arose in response to another brutal wave of police murders of Black and Brown people. (Often it was shared without attribution…and it is still getting circulated so please do me a favor: if/when you see it shared without credit, please comment that it came from adrienne maree brown @adriennemareebrown. Folks need to be credited for their brilliance! And more folks need to know about adrienne’s work.)

Emergent Strategy has me meditating on so many things, and in many ways is an invitation to return home to some of the earliest teachings I received while on the path of yoga and transformation. Specifically, the opening passage I shared in this post has me thinking about the practice of looking for the good. It is a radical practice – in the context of disaster capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy – to train ourselves to first see beauty, connection, and Light. It is a spiritual practice to choose first to see the ways that we are connected, brilliant, and always/already whole and complete. While it might be a relatively basic or subtle shift, it is anything but simple.

Join me in class tomorrow while we exploring the deeply spiritual and transformative potential of learning to meditate on the magic…to look for the good…to focus first on possibility and potential.

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About bienestarte

Patty Adams is a bilingual clinical social worker, as well as an experienced yoga teacher and anti-oppression trainer. She is devoted to intersectional organizing, liberation, holistic healing arts, and wellness.